2) Boiling water before hand. Some are in a rush and will boil the water in a water kettle and then pour it into the lower pot. This speeds up the entire process. To me, this step merely intrudes into a very tactile, Zen-like process that I have no desire to complicate. I have the rest of my life to make a pot of coffee and am seeking ways to slow down, not rush through it. A Yama plays well with my philosophy.
A couple of In-My-Experience comments, or "my approach":
The instructions with the SY8 model call for the use of hot water. "Hot fresh water" to be specific, which to me doesn't mean hot tap water but fresh cold tap water that has been heated. So, using heated water won't mess with the Zenishness as it's part of the manufacturers documented procedure. :-) Me, I am not in a rush, just intolerant to delay so I preheat. I have a few syphon (vacuum) pots in my arsenal. Cona's, Hario's, old Yama's, a Kono, Cory's, Silexes, Bodum's etc and not once have I read in any of the instructions included with some of these to use hot water, except for this new Yama SY8.
Cleaning. I find a couple of ounces of plain ol' white vinegar can really get the lower globe clean with minimal effort. I find the top easier to clean after it has had a chance to air or dry out a bit so I leave that to do right before I make the next pot. The spent grounds come out easier when drier, with a swirl or two of the stirrer, the grounds can pratically pour out of the upper globe into the trash.
Bloom. If you like stronger then the standard water to coffee ratio, and you do happen to preheat the water beforehand, and you are making a full pot, and you are, assumingly, using fresh roasted coffee, I find stirring to be a must if the water starts to rise too fast, or the bloom will rise up and over the edges of the top globe for real nice mess. BTDT. I followed their instructions and they have you put all the coffee in the "infusion chamber" prior to mating the two together. So, I have a situation where hot water is rising into the full amount of coffee I intend to brew with, creating this huge bloom, if I don't stir as the water rises, I will have coffee bloom over the top. Two ways I can help prevent this, lessen the amount of heat so the trip north is not as fast, or, make sure not to preheat the water to the boiling point.
I never had a stall using a Cory or Cona glass filter rod. It has been said that a coarser grind produces more fines. It has been also said that fines cause stalls, as if using a sub-par grinder. I use a Mazzer and I grind fine. I use Tom of SMs guidelines with regards to grinding. Essentially, grind finer and finer until you stall your brewer, then back off a bit. However, if I go too fine, I don't stall the brewer but have a bitterness sensation in the cup, that's when I back off.
Cotton filter. I don't use them often. Rarely in fact. I have read where it is best to store your current one in water in the fridge, something about keeping the taste neutral, I can't say. I can say that in the past when I was using a re-usable hemp #4 cone filter that if it was hung to dry in the kitchen, the next pot of coffee had a taste of the smell of the kitchen. I started storing it in water in the fridge and that issue went away.
Brew time. The instructions call for 60 seconds. I find that to be about right for my tastes, however, I don't time, I go by sight, how the "foam" looks on top. An indicator I use is when I no longer see large bubbles in the foam it's time to remove it from the heat. I don't just heat the off but also move it to a cooled burner. I stir a bit after all the water has risen north, as to me it does not look like all the grounds are getting a thorough saturation on their own. During this stirring is when I view the bubbles in the foam.
Out of all the ways I have to prepare coffee, this is the one method I have used daily since I received it from Bold. The SY8 is a perfect size for two large mugs of joe for the wife and I.
Thanks for distro on this Mr. Java. One helluva coffee maker!
Rich
